Fran Osborne
While at SFAI
Fran is an artist, disability activist, curator and designer with expertise in universal design and the creation of accessible exhibitions and spaces. She graduated from Reading University with a BA (Hons) in Typography & Graphic Communication, and worked as a freelance designer and educator in London, before moving to California in 2008, where she completed her masters in Museum Studies from San Francisco State University. Fran was born into a farming family and her ties to agriculture continue to inform her artistic practice within the landscape of the USA. In 2015 she curated two exhibitions and three evening events for the disability community in the bay area. DIS/PLAY at SOMArts in San Francisco featured work by more than 35 artists with and without disabilities and ‘Patient No More’ in Berkeley and San Francisco featured 40 oral histories and a historic civil rights sit-in and victory from 1977. Fran has taught and mentored graduate level students and created workshops for a range of underserved communities. She was a 2016/17 fellow at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco, grappling with the question, ‘What does equity look like?’ and delivered a presentation called ‘Taking The Common Ground’ at the UCLA conference ‘Disability As Spectacle’ in April 2017. As an independent consultant she is also creating art workshops for low-income seniors residing at five local housing association properties and developing a structured program of art engagement for those with Alzheimer’s.
Residency/Fellowship
Equal Justice 2017/2018
Website
Location
Berkeley, CA USA